Trusting the Gut
by Cartoon Cow
Summary: Things seemed to be going great, until they weren't. The reason for my non-descriptive summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys! I'm sure you've noted the summary was very vague, and I have a reason for that- I don't want you guys to know whats going to happen. I feel like if I make a summary it will ruin the surprise/shock affect. Please read the first chapter before you make the decision to not read the story- because I promise this is going to be great! As usual, Waylon's narration is in bold italics to separate it from the story and authors note.**

**_By now ya'll probably know 'bout how things work in Hazzard County. People work hard, fight to pay the mortgage and stay out of debt in an honest manner. Well, most of em'_**.

Cooter could feel the hot sun pounding down on his back as he bent over the Boss's broken down Cadillac, searching for the problem.

Pulling off his greasy old cap, he straightened up to wipe the sweat off his forehead.

Sure, he was glad it wasn't cold outside anymore, but this weather was roastin' him up like one of Uncle Jesse's thanksgivin turkeys.

Putting his cap back on, he put his hands against the hood of the car; it was obvious what was causing the car not to run.

Cooter gave a sigh, turning towards the garage doors as he pulled a grease rag from his back pocket to wipe his hands off. He sat down on the work table, picking up the phone and dialing the number to Boss's office at the courthouse, where he was sure he would be considering he had the car, and Rosco's police car was still parked across the street.

"J.D Hogg speakin." Boss picked up on the other end of the phone line.

"Howdy Boss," Cooter smiled even though he knew Boss couldn't see it," I figured out what was wrong with her." he waved at Bo and Luke as the General Lee pulled up next to Boss's car.

"Then why ain't you fixin' it instead of callin' me?" Boss retorted as he picked up a piece of thickly sliced ham.

"Cause I gotta tell you its gonna be about a hundred bucks to fix it and thats not includin' the service charge." Cooter said as Bo and Luke were climbing from General's window and walking over to him.

"One hundred dollars?!" Boss exploded.

"Yep, and if you ain't gonna pay it, I ain't gonna fix it." Cooter replied promptly.

"Fine, whatever." Boss fumed as he slammed the phone down to hang it up. It would come out of his drivers pay check anyway. Right now this ham was all that mattered...

Cooter hung up the phone, "Howdy boys." he grinned, happy to see his brothers in the Lord.

"Howdy Cooter." they both said happily.

"Havin' trouble with Boss not payin you?" Luke asked, folding his arms across his chest.

Cooter stood up, "You know usually I'd just fix it and charge em but they owe me a good 800 dollars, so this time I wanted to let him know I ain't fixin it for free."

Bo whistled, propping his hands up on his hips, "Well, Coot, we was comin' by to see if you wanted to ride down to the Boars Nest for a drink with us."

"And we're buyin'." Luke added.

Cooter grinned, "You sure do strike a hard bargain, boys."

Bo smiled as he started back to the General, "Yeah and Uncle Jesse is waitin' to play a game of chess with ya."

Cooter cocked his head to the side, pointing a finger at his friend.

"Let me just close up, "he said reaching up and pulling the door down, glancing towards the bus stop as he turned the lock to the side.

He stopped dead in his tracks.

A sandy blonde, curly haired girl stepped off, a suitcase held tightly in her left hand as she used the left to block the sun from her eyes.

Before he could get a close look at her she was covered up by other passengers getting off the bus, and in a moment she was gone.

"Cooter!" Bo called from the General's driver seat, " Let's go!"

"Yeah, ok." Cooter forced himself to pull away and climb inside to the General Lee's back seat.

Bo reached turned to look at Cooter in the back seat, wiping his finger under Cooters chin, "Looks like you gotta bit of drool there Cooter, who was you eye ballin' so hard huh?"

Cooter swatted at Bo's hand, "Nobody."

"Mmmmhmmm." Bo looked to Luke as they both laughed playfully.

"Alright, alright," Cooter smiled, "we goin to get that drink or what?"


	2. The Meeting

**I am so glad you have decided you like this story because things are gonna heat up soon! Please read and drop me a comment! This chapter is shorter than my usual 2,000 word standard but I've had this weird pain in my hands lately so I;m ending it on a comfy note ;)**

**Ch.2 Meeting**

Luke walked over to the Boars Nest side door, holding it open as Bo and Cooter walked inside.

"Looks like you're winnin', Uncle Jesse." Bo leaned over his Uncles shoulder, his back facing the door as Jesse moved his piece into one of his most famous winning move positions.

Ole' Jimmy Downer frowned as he realized what Jesse had just done, he glanced at the board then back up to Jesse, "I think I hear the wife callin'," which is what he always said when he realized he was fixing to be in check mate.

Gathering up his hat, Jimmy gave everyone a good bye nodd and left with a "see ya boys" as he opened the door, followed by everyone at the table giving a good day and good bye response.

Bo moved around the table, sitting down in the seat next to the one previously occupied by Jimmy and grabbing a handful of buttered popcorn.

Jesse laughed as he began to reset the chess board, "Gets em every time."

Cooter came over and sat down across from Jesse, feeling a sense of dread as he had just watched Jimmy sit here and recieve they equivalent of the death penalty from Jesse.

Luke sat down next to his Uncle, smiling as he watched Cooter scoot his chair up to the table.

"Why don't you go first, Cooter. I bet you'll win today." Jesse gave a reassuring smile before chuckling a little.

Bo laughed, Daisy setting down an ice cold mug mug down in front of him.

"Howdy Daisy." Bo smiled as he took a drink.

"Howdy boys," she smiled placing a beer down in front of Luke and Cooter.

Cooter didn't let the lure of a beer distract him, he was going to make his first move count. He moved his knight up and to the left.

Jesse observed the board, moving his farthest pawn up 2 spaces.

The game continued in this manner, Bo and Luke occasionally making comments about the game until eventually there were people behind Cooter and Jesse, all observing the match.

Daisy wiped the counter as the door opened, a light blonde headed girl walking in with a hiking bag thrown over her shoulder. She sat down at the bar,

"What's goin on over there?" She smiled as she talked to Daisy.

"Why that's my Uncle Jesse and Cooter Davenport, best mechanic in the whole Tri-County area. They're facin off in a game of chess," she giggled, "Cooters been tryin to beat him for years. What can I get for you, Sugar?"

"Water would be nice please." The girl replied, looking back over her shoulder at the people she instantly recognized, Cooter, Bo, Luke, Jesse, Carla (although she never liked the girl), a few towns people and then there was Daisy, who was now setting a cup of water down in front of her.

She fiddled with the cup for a moment, "Are, are you Daisy Duke?"

Daisy furrowed her brows, "Yeah, do I know you? You do look kind of familiar."

"It's Lillian." she smiled.

Daisy's eye's lit up, "Lillian!" She hugged her from across the counter, "I haven't seen you in, well at least 10 years!"

"Yeah!" Lillian giggled, "We're all grown up now. I sure have missed it here- nothin much has really changed."

"Nope," Daisy smiled, "Where have you been all these years?"

"Well you know after daddy got fired we had to move to Atlanta," she took a drink of her water, "then after awhile he just kinda faded away. Cancer got him from workin in the mines all those years."

"I'm so sorry to hear that." Daisy said, now feeling bad for bringing up the subject.

"It was a long time ago." she said looking at her cup.

Cooter slid his rook forward, Jesse stopping him with a grin, "You can't move there Cooter, you're in check."

Cooter held eye contact with Jesse for a moment before moving his queen in front of his king. Everyone knew he was beat.

"Now ya'll need to back up and give a guy some breathing room." he said holding his arms out to the side to scoot some of the people back.

Jesse took the queen, now in the position to get checkmate in one move.

Cooter frowned, it took a lot of pride swallowing to move that final piece when you knew you were going to lose a second later.

He rubbed his fingers together, moving the piece as Jesse declared checkmate.

A series of "awwws" fill the room, Bo patting him of the back, "AW It's alright Cooter," Bo grinned, "you'll beat him someday."

"Yeah, I'm sure." Cooter laughed at the thought, "Well boys, I got to head on back now."

"OK Cooter," Luke finished off the last of his beer and standing up to walk out with Jesse, "Bo get the tab would ya?"

"Ha!" Bo said sarcastically, with a playful smile as he pulled a wad of about 5 ones in his pocket.

"Here ya go Daisy, this should be enough to cover our tab for this week." he said handing it over.

"Who's this little darlin?" Bo held his hand out to Lillian, "Hi!"

Cooter could hear Bo and smirked as he turned to see who his friend was talking to.

"Lillian." Cooter's jaw hung open.

Bo took a step back, seeing this was important to Cooter.

"Hi Cooter, how ya been?" Lillian asked.

"I uh, I been good." He felt like he'd seen a ghost, "What about you?" he quickly covered up his dumb stuttering.

"Great! I started my own hiking gear company- or at least trying to. I thought I could come here and try out some of my own equipment. They have a patent but I still just want to be sure."Lillian giggled shyly.

"Cooter, you still want that ride back to the shop?" Bo asked with a grin.

"I uh, nope." Cooter said, awkwardly, a flush crossing his face as Lillian giggled from behind him.

"Alright then Cooter, see ya later." Bo waved, the door shutting itself behind him as he left.

"See ya Uncle Jesse." Luke was saying as Bo came over.

Jesse was backing out, waving at Bo as he put the truck into drive.

Bo and Luke climbed into the General, Bo hesitating to turn the key in the ignition.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked.

"Did Cooter and Lillian have something? I don't remember much about her except us playing in the creek that one time Cooter broke the rope swing." Bo sat back in his seat.

"Yeah they were kinda like that. Cooter always crushed on her big time but I think her dad always got in their way. He wasn't the nicest person to be around." Luke replied.

Bo frowned, sensing that the conversation was over judging by Luke's body posture.

Something already wasn't sitting right about this.


	3. Memories

Ch.3 Moments

Cooter was beyond happy, to say the least. He only barely registered the door to the Boars Nest shut somewhere behind him upon the exit of Bo, Luke, and their Uncle Jesse.

"Well ain't cha goin to sit down Cooter?" Lillian giggled as he just stood there gawking at her.

Cooter felt his face flush, she was just so…. just like he remembered her almost except… so much more beautiful, "Yeah," he stuttered as he almost fell trying to climb over the bar stool to sit down beside her.

She laughed at Cooters struggle, the small chip in her front tooth bringing a rush of memories back to him.

Chills ran down Cooter's spine at the memory, "H-how these last years been treatin you? They been kinda rough for folks around here."

"Why? Am I lookin rough these days?" She joked with him as she took a sip of her water.

"N-no thats not at all what I meant I just uh I-"

Lillian's laughter cut Cooter off, and Daisy, who was trying not to laugh at Cooter from the minute he stepped over there, joined in her laughter.

"What?" Cooter felt his mouth go dry.

"Sugar she was only messin with you." Daisy said leaning against the bar from the serving side.

Cooter gave an airy laugh, feeling way more awkward than he did to begin with.

"You're so funny Cooter, "Lillian shook her head as she sipped the last bit of her water, "I got to run now, I have a business meeting about my hiking gear," she said as she stood up.

"Good bye Cooter," Lillian said leaning over and kissing his cheek, "I'll see you around."

"Bye Daisy, wish me luck." She giggled.

"Good luck!" Daisy said as Lillian headed for the door.

"Yeah, good luck." Cooter mumbled, the spot on his cheek where her lips touched now felts tingly and numb all at the same time.

Daisy propped her head up on her hand, "I think someone's in love." she grinned.

Cooter adjusted his hat, "Maybe, but maybe I'm just happy to see her's all it is."

"Sure Cooter, I'll bet thats what it is," Daisy winked at him, "But now how are you gonna get home now? You sent the boys home wulla go."

Cooter sat there for a moment, trying to remember at what point he told them they could leave, but drew a blank. He slumped, dumbfounded as he looked around the mostly empty Boars Nest and seeing relatively no one to hitch a ride with.

Daisy laughed, "Here," she held out her keys from under the bar where she always left them hanging, "Take my jeep and have one of the boys pick it up later. They know what time my shift ends."

"Thank you Daisy," Cooter said buttering her up.

"Yeah, yeah Cooter, you go on back to work now." Daisy waved him off playfully.

Cooter spun the keys around his finger whistling as he started out the door.

* * *

Lillian stepped outside the car that was dropped off for her behind the Boars Nest an hour earlier, and now stood with her arms folded and a hiking back pack strapped to her back.

"Did you bring it?"

"Yeah." Lillian said pulling off the backpack, "It's all there."

"Good. I'm commencing part 1," He smiled, leaning in and rubbing his hand along her jaw bone. "I love you. You know this is necessary for us right?"

"Yeah, you know I'd do anything for you." Lillian smiled, drawing him closer to her.

"Thats a good girl. Now go back into town and hang around your hotel room; take a bath and relax for a few hours. Then," he said tucking a lose strand of light blonde hair behind her ear, "go down to Cooters and butter up to him, perhaps even fix him supper. Remember he is crucial to our plan."

Lillian nodded, more than happy to comply with the commands of the love of her life. Sure; she had liked Cooter once upon a time, but things change and so did she. What she and Cooter had was young, foolish love. Now, now she is a woman that can provide for herself and have a real love with a real man. Cooter is too naive, too foolish. She already had Cooter wrapped around her finger and on top of that it wouldn't take much convincing to do her bidding. She can bide her time and wait, all the while giving Cooter a hug, but holding her love's hand behind his back.

* * *

Lillian looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, he hair now curled in a beautiful, springy fashion, light pink dress flowing around her that was a perfect match for her lip gloss.

She smiled at her success. Just like a fisherman knew how to bait his hook to snatch the perfect fish, she knew how to manipulate someone just by fitting the perfect description of their type of 'bait.' Simply draw them in and sink the hook; although, often times in her mind, she liked to think of it more as a bear trap she had set to ensnare her victim.

Locking her hotel room door securely behind her, Lillian carried an empty picnic basket as she went. She would need to get something to eat and a picnic blanket for them to sit on; she already knew that task of drawing him away from his work wouldn't be hard since the aroma of her perfume and of food would practically have him floating on cloud 9.

* * *

Cooter worked diligently under the hood of Bob Colt's hood, a blown head gasket the only cause for the car to not run right.

A knock at the door made Cooter stop his work and unfold himself from the cars interior.

"I'm here." He said to the unknown customer.

"Why silly I already knew you were here." she giggled.

Cooter looked up from wiping his hands to the visitor, "Wow,Lillian I didn't know you were going to stop by today." he stared awe struck at her in her dress.

"Well I just couldn't stand the though of you being out here all alone with no food to keep you comp'ny. I thought perhaps you could take a break and eat supper with me?"

"O-of course I would," Cooter tripped over himself trying to walk over to her, "you mean right now?" Cooter asked, suddenly aware of how dirty he was.

"Why of course, that is if you're hungry enough. I can come back later if you're busy." She said pointing towards the door.

"No. no I'm ready now." Cooter said quickly, "Just wait a second." He said quickly looking around for anything to clean his hands with.

Grabbing a can of break cleaner, he sprayed his hands off and then wiped them until they appeared as clean as he knew they were ever going to get.

Lillian giggled, "We'll seein' how you like to clean up, why don't you escort me to the picnic area?" She said holding out her free arm.

Cooter blushed deeply "Why yes ma'am." he said interlocking arms with her, waiting for her nod of approval for them to start walking towards the park.

"You haven't changed much Cooter, much like things haven't changed around here neither." Lillian said staring down at the grass as they crossed in front of the sheriffs office.

"You haven't changed either Lillian," Cooter said, then feeling stupid because she obviously, well, "filled out" since she had grown up, and it probably offended her that he said that, "Well I mean, you have changed but... your still one of the most sweetest kind hearted people I know. That hasn't changed about you."

Lillian smiled, "Thank you Cooter." she sat the basket down and spread the blanket out, "You'll have to excuse the fact this isn't homemade food, my hotel room doesn't have a stove. So I bought it from the store on the way here. I can't believe Rosco still buys his food from the same store everyday at lunch time. It also seems Enos has inherited that habit."

"I don't mind that it isn't homemade. Just the gesture of you buyin my supper was kind enough. Yeah ole' Rosco is stuck in his ways for sure. Enos tries to do the best he can, but most of the time Boss has Rosco brainwashed into some hairball scheme and innocent Enos is caught unknowingly right in the middle of it." Cooter replied leaning back on his hands.

"Hm." Lilian smiled; they sat down and she began unpacking their supper as she saw her future husband walk down the street approaching Cooters garage. He gave her the signal with a nod.

She felt her heart flutter at the sight of him, and knowing that their plan would soon be setting her on a new life with him. All she had to do was distract Cooter, who was now rambling on about Hazzard; stupid Hazzard.

"-And I guess thats why it wouldn't run to begin with-."

"Cooter!" Lillian cut him off.

"What?" He asked.

Lillian pushed the picnic table aside and shoved her lips against Cooters, who was shocked at first but readily accepted her invitation.

She pushed him down as they kissed, all the while she looked up at Cooters garage, that Cooter could no longer see, and watched as her future husband entered and within moments came back out and disappeared down the street.

She let go of Cooter and smoothed her dress out, "Why Cooter I don't know what just came over me."

Cooter, who was now completely oblivious to reality, adjusted his hat back on his head. "Me either, but I didn't mind it." he smiled, dazed.

"I better go now Cooter, I'm completely embarrassed now. Good-bye!" She waved as she grabbed her basket and ran back in the direction of her hotel room.

Cooter had no words left to attempt to tell her to stop and it was ok, but found himself in a daze he watched her run; her curls bouncing perfectly against her shoulders as she went.

Oblivious to the footsteps coming up behind him, Cooter was still just sitting there.

"Cooter!" Rosco called from behind him.

Cooter looked up at Rosco, not even caring he was probably about to get a ticket.

* * *

**Hey guys! Its been awhile, but I'ma bout to be late for church so I have to hurry with this. I have missed you all dearly! I'm sorry it has taken so long to get this out to you guys but I' trying really hard to get into governors school and mid state and all state as a clarinetist. I just had a halloween recital and now my high school band has been invited to the Outback Bowl to perform at half time and holy crap so much is going on right now. Please leave a review with your thoughts and I PROMISE MY WRITING STYLE HAS NOT CHANGED. I am not one for lovey dovey stuff but I want you to remember as you're reading this that Cooter LOVED Lillian and she has always loomed in the back of his mind. Lillian on the other hand is simply using herself to get to Cooter. Sad but true. Bye!**


End file.
